2024 Hyundai IONIQ 5’s Only Flaw Defines The Car

The 2024 Hyundai IONIQ 5 is one of those rare new cars that instantly make me become a kid again. Yes, I also said this about its sedan twin, the IONIQ 6, but the fact that the 5 is a hatchback, one that happens to look like a Lancia Delta Integrale that has been pixelated into the future, makes it that much more desirable. Do I find the IONIQ 5 more attractive than the IONIQ 6? No. In my book, they’re both rad designs that stand out in a world of egg-shaped blobs. But I spent the entire holiday season behind the wheel of the IONIQ 5 and my spouse and I agreed that due to its practicality, it would be the EV we’d choose as a family car, even though it’s plagued by one major flaw.

2024 Hyundai IONIQ 5 Review: The Flaw That Defines The Persona

That flaw, of course, is the absence of a rear wiper, which made driving the IONIQ 5 a truly miserable experience on salt-covered winter roads. Once that rear window had collected the dirt and water from the tarmac, it was game over as far as rearward visibility was concerned. I might as well have been driving a panel van.But then, that’s also what constitutes part of the 2024 Hyundai IONIQ 5’s charm, the fact that it does have an outstanding flaw. After Cindy Crawford’s mole, Jennifer Lopez’ big butt and Gérard Depardieu’s schnoze, there’s the Hyundai IONIQ 5’s no rear wiper situation. Of course, Hyundai does plan on adding one when the car will receive its midcycle facelift. From what I understand, the high-performance IONIQ 5 N will have one, a car that should hit Canadian showrooms this spring. So it’s only a temporary problem.The IONIQ 5 is nevertheless all sorts of cool, from the way it’s shaped, to the way its head and taillights remind me of something that should belong in a Cyberpunk video game. What’s also interesting about this design is that it makes the car appears small from far, but enormous when you approach it. It’s the same kind of proportion wizardry that Frank Stephenson used when he drew the original BMW MINI Cooper.The model you see here is the Preferred Long Range, or the base, rear-wheel drive version sold at $57,666 (before EV incentives). It’s crazy to think that a Tesla Model 3 costs less now. For 2024, Hyundai Canada only offers this car in two trim levels anyway. The second trim basically adds all-wheel drive. Then there’s the $6,000 Ultimate package that adds even more bling and tech. But hey, you know what? I think I’d get my IONIQ 5 in the base version you see here, painted in the Lucid Blue paint color. It’s more than I need. It’s just too bad that you need to buy the Ultimate package to get that rad Teal paint.All versions of the 2024 Hyundai IONIQ 5 are now powered by the same liquid-cooled, 77.4-kWh lithium-ion battery. Hyundai Canada basically ditched the smaller 58-kWh unit that’s still offered elsewhere. In the case of my tester, that battery powers one rear-mounted permanent-magnet AC electric motor that’s good for 225 horsepower and 258 lb-ft. Range for this base model is rated at 488 km as per Natural Resources Canada. Charging performance on a level 2 home charger is rated at 10.9 kW, while fast-charging in optimal conditions is achieved at the rate of 239 kW.

The Right Amount Of Performance, Will Drift On Snow And Ice

Of course, because I was driving the 2024 Hyundai IONIQ 5 during winter weather, I was never able to reach its advertised range. In reality, once I had preheated the car’s cabin remotely using the My Hyundai mobile app (while the car was connected to my home charger), the maximum displayed range in the instrument cluster was 300 km. A good drop, but still more than I needed for my holiday road trips.Hyundai’s battery preconditioning system, also called Winter Mode, also allowed me to prepare the battery for fast charging, in which case it consistently pulled at a steady rate. I mostly used 100 and 150 kW units, which gave me averages of 85 and 130 kW during each session.Charging speeds aside, I will say that I absolutely adore everything about this car, from the way it looks inside and out, to the way it drives. Even in this base configuration, there’s more than enough power and torque on tap to give a sweat to the driver of that Golf GTI who’s been tailgating you. This is actually just enough for the daily grind, but with the added fun factor of driving a rear-wheel drive hatchback.That being said, while the IONIQ 5 will accept being sent into graceful power slides when traction control is turned off, you do need to be alert when doing so as the immense instant torque of that rear motor could have you quickly facing rearward. Thankfully, Hyundai’s traction control system has three modes: on, a bit off, and entirely off. On snow and ice, I preferred leaving it partially turned off in order to prevent that AC motor from going nuts.The IONIQ 5 feels hyper solid on beaten roads, refined, grown up and, dare I say it, almost German in its road composure. It’s no hot hatchback, but it does know how to tackle a corner given how heavy it is. And I continue finding that Hyundai’s take on regenerative braking to be the wittiest. By using steering-mounted paddles, you can select three different levels of regen. The fourth level is the i-Pedal, which turns into full one-pedal driving. Auto mode allows the system to manage it all for you.But the main reason why I would choose an IONIQ 5 over a 6 is for its added practicality. Hyundai qualifies this cars as a crossover, but it’s actually a large hatchback. Whatever you want to call it, it’s a large upright car that yields a ton of passenger leg and headroom, while having a large enough trunk for a stroller and a set of groceries.During our holiday runs, we stuffed the IONIQ 5’s trunk with presents, toys that were given to us from relatives, extra clothes for my kid, my spouse and myself as well as the dog’s gear. The dog was on one side of the rear seat, while my son was in the other in his shell. We never ran out of room, plus we adored the amount of storage space the car had.So there you have it, the 2024 Hyundai IONIQ 5 is a perfect car with one major flaw, as if it was done on purpose by the people who designed it. Hyundai doesn’t confirm this, but from seeing how smart the entire car is and how well-engineered it is, I wouldn’t be surprised that the rear wiper situation was some kind of an inside joke.

Clavey’s Corner is located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Prices and trim levels discussed in this article reflect the Canadian car market.

Special thanks: Hyundai Canada

Photography: Guillaume Fournier

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